A card, an assembly, a method of assembling the card and a method of outputting information

ABSTRACT

A card configured to output an magnetic field on or at a surface thereof, the card comprising an elongated magnetically conducting material on or at the surface of the card, the magnetically conducting material having a first and a second guide ends, and a field generator positioned so as to feed a magnetic field into the magnetically conducting material. The magnetically conducting material is positioned at the position where the reading head travels and forms a return path for the field generated by the field generator, whereby field from the generator is fed to the reading head via the magnetically conducting material.

The present invention relates to a new type of card configured to outputan magnetic field.

Credit cards of this type may be seen in e.g. WO01/52204, EP1326196,U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,285, WO01/31577, WO00/49561, EP0994439,US2004/133787, EP1231562, US2003/106935, GB2243235, U.S. Pat. No.4,158,433, DE19648767, DE19618144, U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,355, CA2317642,U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,679, CA2317642, U.S. Pat. No. 7,278,025, U.S. Pat.No. 4,829,166, U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,056, US2002/032657, RU2062507, U.S.Pat. No. 5,563,948, RU2216114, U.S. Pat. No. 6,657,538, U.S. Pat. No.4,304,992, US2004/0035942, US2007/0176622, U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,362,US2004/0129787, US2006/0283958, U.S. Pat. No. 8,376,239, US2012/187199,EP0373411, and US2006/0091989.

In a first aspect, the invention relates to a card configured to outputa magnetic field on or at a surface thereof, the card comprising:

-   -   an elongated magnetically conducting material on or at the        surface of the card, the magnetically conducting material having        a first and a second guide ends, and    -   a field generator positioned so as to feed a magnetic field into        at least the guide ends of the magnetically conducting material,        where the conducting material and the field generator, at a        position along a longitudinal direction of the conducting        material and in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal        direction, have non-overlapping cross-sectional areas.

The card could be configured to output the magnetic field along apredetermined curve on or at the surface, where the magneticallyconducting material on or at the surface of the card could be positionedat the predetermined curve.

The overall intention with the card is that the field generator isconfigured to feed a magnetic field into the magnetically conductingmaterial, where a reading head positioned over the magneticallyconducting material will then be able to detect this field e.g. in thesame manner as in the old-fashioned magnetic strip cards.

In this context, a card may have the same dimensions as a credit card,as e.g. defined in ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1: 85.60×53.98 mm, with a thicknessof 0.76 mm, as is the most widely used dimension for banking and IDcards. The present card thus preferably is a flat, thin, rectangularcard configured to be received in ATMs and other card readers used forentrance control, funds transfer, banking operations, cash withdrawaland the like. These card readers may be swipe type readers where a useris requested to swipe the card through a slit, inside which a cardreading head is positioned, or readers configured to receive a card intoa slot of a housing and which automatically translate or move the cardto a reader head provided inside the housing.

The present card preferably is bendable and generally fulfils otherparts of ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1, such as the bendability and dimensionalstability. This standard also relates to flammability, toxicity,resistance to chemicals, resistance to deterioration from exposure tolight and heat, as well as the durability of the card. Naturally, theserequirements are also desired fulfilled, but such demands may differfrom situation to situation, whereby such requirements may not always berequired fulfilled.

Naturally, other card shapes or dimensions may be selected outside thisstandard, which is widely used but in no way a limitation to theinvention. Thus, cards of other shapes, such as square, triangular,circular, oval and with other thicknesses and other dimensions areequally useful in accordance to the invention.

The card is configured to provide a magnetic field at or on the surfaceand along the magnetically conducting material on or at the surface ofthe card. The intention is to emulate the operation of an old-fashionedcredit card when a reading head is translated along the magnetic stripthereof. However, differences exist. For example, the present field ofthe card according to the invention need not vary along the magneticallyconductive material. Instead, the field may be made to vary over time,so that a reading head, stationary or moving in relation to the card,may detect a varying magnetic field. In fact, typically the same signaland field is output over all of the magnetically conducting material atany point in time. Thus, the actual position of the reader in relationto the magnetically conducting material may be irrelevant or of littlerelevance.

The positions of this magnetically conducting material or track isdefined in e.g. 1507811-2 in relation to cards with the dimensions asdefined above. The position of the magnetically conducting material thusis not necessarily illustrated on the card and may or may not be seen asa predetermined set of positions on the surface of the card.

Thus, the card may comprise a controller configured to output to thefield generator an electrical signal which, in the field generator, maybe converted into the magnetic field—preferably a field varying overtime and having therein information to be output from the card. Thisinformation may be the information or the type(s) of information outputby standard credit/ID cards.

In this context, the magnetically conductive material will usually startand end within the boundaries of the card, such as the outer boundariesof the card when seen directly from above a main surface or sidethereof. This magnetically conductive material may have any shape, suchas a bent, V-shaped, U-shaped, S-shaped shape, but a straight line ispreferred. Usually, this straight line is selected or defined to beparallel to an edge or side of the card.

The card surface usually will be a major or main surface of the card,such as one of the largest surfaces of the card where, often, printedinformation, such as user name, signatures, logos and the like, isprovided. Often, the surface is flat or plane.

The magnetically conductive material may be positioned along a curve, onor at the surface or in a projection on to this surface, at which themagnetic field is desired or required. Thus, the curve may be a track onthe card directly over which a reading head or coil is supposed to betranslated for detecting the field emitted by the card. Consequently,the curve often will be determined or dictated by a reader or a standarddefining the relative positions of the card and a reading head/coil.

The magnetically conducting material is elongated. In this context, anelongated element has a longest dimension and has a width, perpendicularto the longest dimension, which is shorter than the longest dimension,such as no more than 50%, such as no more than 20% of the longestdimension.

Preferably, the length of the elongated magnetically conducting materialis a predetermined percentage of the curve or a width/length of the cardalong the same curve or direction. This percentage may be 50% or more,such as 75% or more. Alternatively to the percentage of the width, amaximum distance from a card edge to the pertaining end may be defined.

A magnetically conducting material preferably is a material with μr>10,such as μr>50, preferably μr>100, such as μr>500, in order for themagnetically conductive material to be operative to collect and guidethe field generated by the field generator.

The magnetically conducting material is preferably provided on or at thesurface at the curve. Thus, the material preferably at leastsubstantially overlaps the curve when both are projected on to thesurface of the card.

The magnetically conducting material may form part of the surface or maybe provided in a material defining a part of this surface, such as ifthe material is embedded in a layer forming the surface. Alternatively,the material may be protected from e.g. wear and oxidation where a layeris provided between the material and the surface. Preferably, a layerthickness of no more than e.g. 0.5 mm, such as no more than 0.3 mm isprovided between the material and the surface, as the larger thedistance between the material and the surface, the larger the distanceto the reading head, and consequently, the less field available fordetection in the head.

In many situations, the magnetically conductive material will beprovided in a plane parallel to a plane of the surface. In somesituations, however, the magnetically conducting material may have avarying distance to the surface along its length, so as to, in thismanner, e.g. adapt the field strength output by the material at thesurface along its length. In one situation, the magnetically conductingmaterial has a larger distance to the surface at a central portionthereof in order for the field strength at the surface of the card to beat least substantially the same (such as within 25%) along the length ofthe curve.

In this context, the field generator is an element or device configuredor able to output a magnetic field. A typical field generator comprisesa coil which is suitable for converting an electrical signal into amagnetic field. The coil may therein have a core if desired.

When the conducting material and the field generator, at a positionalong a longitudinal direction of the conducting material and in a planeperpendicular to the longitudinal direction, have non-overlappingcross-sectional areas, the two elements are preferably formed by twoseparate parts. In this situation, the non-overlapping means that thetwo elements are positioned beside each other and not one inside theother. Another manner of defining this is that circumscribing curves arenon-overlapping. The field generator and the conducting materialpreferably are separate elements which, as is described below, have noelectrical contact and may, prior to incorporation into the card, behandled separately. The two elements may not be directly physicallyconnected to each other but may be indirectly connected to each othervia another element, such as a structural part of the card.

In a preferred embodiment, the cross sectional areas or a circumscribingcurve, are non-overlapping in the cross section or plane. This may bethe situation at one or a plurality of positions along the direction,such as over all of or a a major part (minimum 50% or more) of a lengthof the conducting material where, in the cross section, the fieldgenerator is present.

Preferably, the generator has two ends at which a part of, such as amajor part of, the magnetic field is output. Preferably, the ends of thegenerator are positioned close to the magnetically conducting materialto facilitate the field transport from the generator to the magneticallyconducting material. The aim may be to position the generator andmagnetically conducting element so that the magnetically conductingmaterial provides a significant return path for the field output by thegenerator.

The card or the field generator may also comprise a driver for providinga signal to the generator. This signal may vary over time so as toembed, in the signal and thus the magnetic field generated, information.This time variation may result in the outputting of an magnetic fieldvarying in the same manner as that detected by a reading head travellingalong a magnetic track of an old-fashioned magnetic card. The magneticfield of the card according to the invention may, however, in somesituations be detected by a reading head independently of whether thehead is stationary in relation to the card or moving along the curve andmagnetically conducting material.

The feeding of the magnetic field into the magnetically conductingmaterial usually will be automatic and be determined from the relativepositions of the field generator and the magnetically conductingmaterial, such as the ends thereof. Also, the surroundings of the cardand the parts of the card surrounding the generator and the magneticallyconducting material may influence the amount of field collected by themagnetically conducting material.

Naturally, the return path may be obtained irrespective of where themagnetic field is introduced into the magnetically conducting material.Thus, the ends of the generator may be positioned at any position alongthe length of the magnetically conducting material.

The guide ends normally will be positioned at the two parts of theelongated magnetically conducting material which are the farthest fromeach other. The ends of a rectangular element may be the two opposing,smaller sides.

Then, the guide ends of the magnetically conducting material may beprovided close to the ends of the field generator so that the field fromthe generator enters the magnetically conducting material at the guideends.

In this context, the distance between a generator end and thecorresponding magnetically conducting material end may be 1 mm or less,such as 0.5 mm or less, such as 0.3 mm or less. This distance may be thedistance at the ends of the generator or a distance between the abovecross sections or circumscribing curves, in the cross section or plane.

Preferably, the card has no other material than the magneticallyconducting material which has μr>100, such as μr>10, within a distanceof 1 mm of the curve or the magnetically conducting material or thegenerator. This aids in optimizing the amount of the magnetic fieldwhich opts to travel back via the magnetically conducting material.

As mentioned above, the curve or magnetically conductive materialnormally is positioned at a standardized position. This is an advantagein that the readers then may also be configured to read all cards. Theabove-mentioned standard is the most widely used.

Thus, in one embodiment, the card has an outer, at least substantiallystraight side and wherein the curve or magnetically conductive materialis a straight line being at least substantially parallel to the side andpositioned between 6.9 mm and 7.2 mm from the side.

In another embodiment, the card has an outer, at least substantiallystraight side and wherein the curve or magnetically conductive materialis a straight line being at least substantially parallel to the side andpositioned between 10.2 mm and 10.5 mm from the side.

The two embodiments may be combined, when the card has multiplemagnetically conductive materials and multiple generators, onemagnetically conductive material being positioned at one distance andbeing fed by one generator and another material positioned at anotherdistance and being fed by another generator.

In order to facilitate the withdrawal/exiting of a part of the fieldfrom the magnetically conductive material, its magnetic propertiespreferably are adapted for this use. Thus, preferably, the magneticallyconducting material has a magnetic conductivity of no more than 500,000μr, such as no more than 300,000 μr, such as no more than 100,000 μr,such as no more than 50,000 μr, preferably no more than 10,000 μr, suchas no more than 5,000 μr, such as no more than 2000 μr. Presently, thedesired magnetically conductive material has a μr of about 1600, butthis will depend on a number of parameters, such as the μr of thereading head. The higher the μr of the reading head, the easier will thefield exit the magnetically conducting material, and the higher may theμr of the magnetically conducting material be chosen.

In one embodiment, the magnetically conducting material has a thickness,in a direction perpendicular to the surface, of less than 500 μm, suchas 5-200 μm, such as 10-100 μm. On the one side, a thicker magneticallyconducting material will be able to attract or transport more fieldstrength, but if the thickness becomes too large, the field transportedthe farthest from the surface may experience a too large reluctance totake part in the field travelling closer to the surface and a part ofwhich enters the reading head. This may be solved by choosing amagnetically conducting material with a higher μr in the directiontoward the surface than along the plane of the surface.

The width of the magnetically conducting material preferably is no morethan 5 mm, such as no more than 3 mm, such as around 2.5 mm.

In general, the magnetically conducting material may be a metal. Themagnetically conducting material may be a monolithic material, such as afoil or tape. Alternatively, the magnetically conducting material may bea powder moulded or otherwise provided into a carrier material, such asplastics, a polymer or the like. The magnetically conductive materialmay form part of a plastic sheet provided on the card. This may beobtained using co-extrusion, embedding, moulding or the like.

In one embodiment, the field generator comprises an elongated coil,optionally with a core therein if desired. This field generator may bepositioned at least substantially parallel to the magneticallyconductive material. In another situation, the distance between themagnetically conductive material and the coil may be larger at a centralposition than at ends thereof in order to adapt the field strengthexiting the coil at positions between the ends thereof and entering themagnetically conductive material between the ends thereof. In thismanner, the overall field strength in the magnetically conductivematerial may be controlled along the length thereof.

Preferably, if a core is present, the core or core material has amagnetic conductivity of at least 1000 μr, such as at least 2000 μr,preferably at least 5000 μ, such as at least 7500 μr, preferably atleast 9000 μr. The presently preferred coil material has a μr of about10,000.

In one embodiment, in a cross section perpendicular to the curve orlongitudinal direction of the magnetically conductive material, thefield generator is positioned no more than 3 mm, such as 1 mm or less,from the magnetically conductive material. This may be to ensure that asufficient amount of the field generated by the generator enters themagnetically conductive material.

In an alternative or additional embodiment, the field generator iselongated and has two generator ends, the card further comprisingmagnetically conducting elements configured to guide magnetic field fromeach generator end to a guide end. These conducting elements then maybe, themselves, elongated having one end positioned in the vicinity ofan end of the magnetically conductive element and another end positionedin the vicinity of an end of the generator so as to conduct field fromthe generator to the magnetically conductive material. Thesemagnetically conducting elements may have a permeability of least 1000μr, such as at least 2000 μr, preferably at least 5000 μr, such as atleast 7500 μr, preferably at least 9000 μr, such as at least 15,000 μr,such as at least 20,000 μr, preferably at least 50,000 μr, such as atleast 75,000 μr.

A second aspect of the invention relates to an assembly of a cardaccording to the first aspect of the invention and a card readercomprising a reading head configured to be positioned at or travel adistance, in relation to the card, over the magnetically conductingmaterial of the card while sensing the magnetic field and to output asignal relating to the field sensed.

In this context, the reading head may comprise a reading coil ordetector configured to convert sensed/detected magnetic field into anoutput signal, which usually will be electrical but which may equallywell be optical, wireless, radio-based, an audio signal or the like.

This reading coil or the reading head is configured to be positioned,relative to the card, directly above the predetermined curve or themagnetically conductive material. Most card readers are originallyconfigured to provide or facilitate a relative movement of the card andreading head so that the reading head or reading coil travels along anddirectly above the predetermined curve and/or the magneticallyconductive material. This is not a disadvantage according to theinvention but it is not a requirement, as is described above. Thereading head and/or reading coil may be stationary in relation to thecard while detecting the field output, but the reading head/coil isstill to be positioned directly above the curve/magnetically conductivematerial.

In this context, the reading head is over the curve or magneticallyconductive material if it is positioned directly above this, i.e. a lineperpendicular to the surface and intersecting the surface at the curveor magnetically conductive material will intersect the reading head.

Usually, the reading head has at least a first field sensor, such as acoil, having a magnetic conductivity of at least 100,000 μr, such as atleast 200,000 μr. Often, such coils have a conductivity of around300,000 μr.

Preferably, the reading head either contacts the surface duringdetection or sensing of the field from the magnetically conductivematerial, or any distance between the head and card surface is very low,such as no more than 1 mm, preferably no more than 500 μm, preferably nomore than 250 μm, such as no more than 100 μm.

A third aspect of the invention relates to a method of assembling a cardaccording to the first aspect of the invention, the method comprisingthe steps of:

-   -   1) providing a card blank,    -   2) fixing the field generator in relation to the card blank,    -   3) subsequent to step 2, fixing the magnetically conducting        material in relation to the card blank.

In this respect, a card blank may be an element having an outer contourresembling that of the final card. Usually, a card blank is formed intothe final card by, possibly among other steps, laminating it with one ormore sheets or layers, such as printed layers, protection sheets or thelike. In some types of cards, chips or other electronics are providedtherein, as may switches, contacts, displays or the like.

Usually, the card blank will have the contour of the final card (contourof the card when projected on to the plane of the surface) and willrepresent most of the thickness thereof.

The card blank may be used as a stiff element forming a basis of thecard.

The fixing of the generator in relation to the card blank may be agluing, laminating, welding, soldering step, press fitting or the like.

The fixing may also be performed by providing the generator in a cut-outor concavity of the card blank in which the generator is enclosed, suchas by adding a layer or sheet on top of the generator to enclose it inthe cut-out or concavity.

The fixing of the magnetically conducting material may also be a gluing,laminating, welding, soldering step or the like. Preferably themagnetically conducting material forms part of a layer laminated on tothe card blank.

Naturally, the fixing steps 2 and 3 may be reversed so that themagnetically conducting material is fixed to the blank before the fieldgenerator.

The fixing of the latter of the magnetically conducting material orfield generator may be a fixing thereof in a position beside, below orabove the firstly fixed one.

It is noted that the card may additionally comprise additional elements,such as a battery, a biometric reader, such as a finger print reader,one or more displays, one or more transmitters/transceivers, such aswireless transmitters/transceivers, such as a Bluetooth transceiver, aWi-Fi transceiver, an RF transceiver or the like, antennas, a keyboard,one or more switches, such as blister switches or piezo based switches(see e.g. WO2008/104567) or the like.

In one embodiment, step 3) comprises providing no electrical connectionbetween the magnetically conducting material and the field generator.Thus, reduced requirements may be obtained when manufacturing a cardaccording to the invention compared to the situation where the generatormust be positioned precisely in relation to the curve. In thissituation, the field of the generator will still be able to flow to themagnetically conducting material even if the generator is slightlydisplaced in relation to its optimal situation.

Step 3) thus may be a simple lamination step.

A fourth aspect of the invention relates to a method of outputting asignal from a card according to the first aspect of the invention, themethod comprising the step of operating the field generator to feed amagnetic field into the magnetically conducting material, themagnetically conducting material outputting the signal.

The above description of the curve, the magnetically conductingmaterial, the generator etc. is equally valid in relation to the fourthaspect.

As mentioned above, the step of feeding the field into the magneticallyconductive material may be obtained simply by positioning these elementssuitably in relation to each other or, alternatively or in addition, byproviding elements configured to guide the field from the generator tothe magnetically conducting material and back.

In one embodiment, the operating step comprises operating the fieldgenerator to feed a magnetic field into the magnetically conductingmaterial, which magnetic field varies over time. In this manner, thereading head may be stationary over the curve or may move over or alongthe curve and/or magnetically conductive material with any desired speedwhile detecting and outputting the desired signal.

A final aspect of the invention relates to a method of transferringinformation from a card, according to the first aspect of the invention,to a reading head, the method comprising:

-   -   operating the field generator of the card to feed the magnetic        field into the magnetically conducting material,    -   positioning a reading device in the proximity of the        magnetically conducting material during the operating step,        so that, during the operating step, at least a part of a        magnetic field transported in the magnetically conducting        material exits the magnetically conducting material and enters        the reading device, and where the reading device outputs a        signal corresponding to the at least part of the magnetic field        entering the reading device.

The above description of the curve, the generator and the magneticallyconducting material are equally valid in relation to this aspect.

The operating of the field generator may be feeding an electrical signalthereto, where the field generator is operational to convert theelectrical signal into a magnetic signal. Preferably, the fieldgenerator is able to convert any time dependency or variation into acorresponding field strength dependency or variation. A typical fieldgenerator is a coil, optionally with a core material therein.

Thus, information may be encoded in the electrical signal, whichinformation is present also in the field generated and thus in an outputsignal from the reading head.

The positioning step may comprise, as mentioned above, abutting thereading device, such as a reading head, and the card. Alternatively, adistance there between may be e.g. no more than 1 mm, preferably no morethan 500 μm, preferably no more than 250 μm, such as no more than 100μm. Preferably, the distance between the device and the card ismaintained at least substantially constant during the operating step.

As mentioned above, the operating step may perform the feeding stepautomatically due to the emitted field itself choosing to travel throughthe magnetically conducting material.

The operating step comprises the device sensing the field in or emittedby the magnetically conducting material. This field will exit themagnetically conducting material in order to find a lower reluctancepath back to the generator. Thus, again the operation may be fullyautomatic simply by selecting the parameters in a suitable manner.Suitable parameters for the individual elements are described furtherabove.

In one embodiment, the positioning step comprises translating thereading device in relation to the card, preferably along the curve ormagnetically conductive material.

In the following, preferred embodiments of the invention will bedescribed with reference to the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a credit card with a magnetic strip,

FIG. 2 illustrates the standardized positions of the individual magnetictracks of a magnetic card,

FIG. 3 illustrates the relative positions of an encoder, a guide and atrack position,

FIG. 4 illustrates two field generators on a card, includingcompensating coils, and

FIG. 5 illustrates a cross section of a card according to the invention.

In FIG. 1, a standard credit card 10 is illustrated having a magneticarea 12 positioned in a predetermined and standardized position. Themagnetic area 12 typically comprises two individual strips or signaltracks, 121 and 122, of magnetically encoded information. The positionsof these strips or tracks, 121 and 122 also are standardized.

According to ISO/IEC 7811-2:2001, the track 121, positioned the closestto the nearest longitudinal side 16 of the card 10 (see FIG. 2), has anedge closest to the side 16 of no more than 0.228″ (5.79 mm). Theboundary between the first and second tracks 121/122 is between 0.328″(8.33 mm) and 0.358″ (9.09 mm) from the edge 16. The second track 122extends to between 0.458″ (11.63 mm) and 0.498″ (12.65 mm) from the edge16. A minimum track width is 0.100″ (2.45 mm).

Different sources identify slightly different centre distances from theedge 16 to a centre of the tracks 121 and 122, but the followingdistances are seen: distance from edge 16 to centre of track 121:(0.228″+0.328″)/2=0.278″ (7.06 mm), distance from edge 16 to centre oftrack 122: (0.358″+0.458″)/2=0.408″ (10.36 mm).

Naturally, the tracks 121/122 may be positioned along any curves on thecard. The straight lines are preferred as they facilitate a linear swipeor translation of the card in relation to the reader.

The preferred embodiments of the card of the invention have one or moremagnetic encoders positioned at or near the track positions of the card.These encoders are able to generate a magnetic field emulating that of alegacy magnetic strip of a card translated in relation to a reader.

In FIG. 3, an encoder strategy is seen wherein a single encoder 20 isprovided having a field generating element 21 comprising a coil 22 and acore 24, if desired, extending along, preferably parallel to, a curve121 which is at one of the standardized positions of a magnetic track ofa credit card. In addition, the encoder comprises a field guide 26positioned at or below the curve position.

The ends 20′ and 20″ of the coil 22 or core 24, which ever extends thefarthest to the right and to the left, defines end points at which alarge part of a generated magnetic field is output and which will travelto the other end point in a manner defined by the card characteristicsand the surroundings of the card 10.

The distance, D, between the ends 20′ and 20″ of the encoder 20 and thecurve 121 and guide 26 is not critical, as the guide 26 will be selectedby the field lines of the magnetic field due to its conductioncharacteristics—especially if or when no other magnetically conductingelements generally directed from the first end to the second end areprovided.

It is noted that the main field emitted by the encoder 20 is output bythe ends 20′ and 20″. Thus, when the positions of the ends 20′ and 20″are fixed, any shape may, in principle, be used for the remainder of theencoder 20. An alternative to the straight encoder 20 of FIG. 3 is abent or curved encoder, such as an encoder forming part of a circle, anoval or the like.

However, it has been found that the coil 22/core 24 do, in fact, alsooutput a field between the ends. This effect may be utilized by varyingthe distance, along the longitudinal direction, between the coil 22/core24 and the guide 26 to e.g. obtain that the same field strength travelsinside the guide 26 along its length or that the same field strength issensed by a reading head (see below) along the length of the guide 26.In this situation, the distance D would usually increase closer to thecentre of the guide 26. Alternatively, it may be desired that the guide26 and coil 22/core 24 are parallel, such as straight.

The operation of the encoder 20 is that a signal, corresponding to themagnetic field to be sensed by the reading head of a reader, whichreading head is stationary over or travels along or over the field guide26, is transmitted into the coil 22. As a result thereof, the coil 22and core 24 outputs an magnetic field which travels into the field guide26, via the ends thereof, to complete the unbroken field lines of thefield. The field fed into the guide 26 is received both from the endportions of the core 22/coil 24 but also from positions along the lengththereof (between the ends), depending on the distance between the coil22/core 24 and the guide 26 along the length thereof.

When a reader head travels along the field guide 26, or is stationary inrelation thereto, field lines within the field guide will choose toenter the reader head and thus feed part of the field into the readerhead and thus transfer the information, while emulating the behaviour ofa standard magnetic strip of a credit card.

The advantage of using the guide 26, compared to positioning the coil22/core 24 at the curve, is that the magnetic field exiting the guide 26and entering a reading head enters the reading head in the same manner,such as under the same angles, as those of the old-fashioned magneticstripe cards. Thus, the field lines entering the reading head aresuitably aligned compared to the coils in the reading head.

The width of the guide 26, perpendicular to the longitudinal directionthereof and parallel to the plane of the card surface may be 2.5 mm.

In FIG. 4, an encoder scheme is illustrated comprising, in addition tothe encoder 20, a second encoder 30 as well as compensating elements tobe described in further detail.

For illustrative purposes, the encoders 20 and 30 are different. A largevariation in encoder schemes, as will also be described further below,may be used. Usually, identical encoder types are used in the same card.

The encoder 20, as in FIG. 3, comprises a field generating element 21comprising an oblong core material 24 and a coil 22 wound around thecore material 24. Parallel to the field generating element 21, amagnetic field guide 26, comprising a magnetically conductive material,is provided. The field guide 26 is provided at or along one of thestandardized positions, 121, of the magnetic tracks of credit cards.

The encoder 30 comprises a field generating element 31 with a core 34, acoil 32 and a field guide 36 positioned at another of the standardizedpositions, 122, of magnetic tracks of credit cards. The encoder 30,however, also has guides 38 configured to guide magnetic field from thecoil 32 and core 34 to the guide 36 in order to increase the couplingthere between and reduce a loss of field to the surroundings.

In addition to the encoders 20/30, cross talk reducing coils 29/39,which may have cores or not, may be provided in order to prevent crosstalk from one encoder to the other when operated simultaneously.

The function of the cross talk reducing coil 29 is to create an magneticfield at the guide 36 to counter the field created at the guide by theencoder 20 at the guide 36 when operating to generate the desired fieldat or in the guide 26. Thus, it is desired that the resulting field fromthe encoder 20 and the cross talk reducing coil 29, at the guide 36, iszero or as low as feasible.

The operation of the cross talk reducing coil 39 is similar.

An alternative to the operation of the cross talk reducing coils 29/39is the subtraction, in the signal fed to the encoder 20, for example, ofa signal correlated to that fed to the encoder 30 in order for theencoder 20 to, itself, output a field counter acting that of the encoder30 at the position 121 or guide 26. Other solutions will be thesubtraction of the cross talk signal in the reader if desired, as boththe signal from the encoder 20 and that of the encoder 30 may be sensedby the reader.

In FIG. 5, a card 10 is illustrated in a cross section perpendicular tothe coils, cores and guides. Illustrated is also electronics 48 forfeeding electrical signals into the coils. The cross talk reducing coils29/39 are not illustrated but may be provided or not. These usually arealso fed by the electronics 48, but this is not a requirement.

Also illustrated is a reading head 50 comprising two reading coils 52and 54 each positioned so as to travel along the tracks 121/122 and thusguides 26/36 while individually receiving the fields output by theguides 26/36, respectively. Usually, the reading coils 52/54 arepositioned directly above (perpendicularly to the upper surface of thecard) the guides 26/36 and/or the track positions 121/122. As mentionedabove, the coils 52/54 may move along the curves or guides 26/36 orremain stationary in relation to the card 10.

The operation thus is as described above: the field generated by thegenerators is fed into the guides and from the guides, part of the fieldtransported therein will enter the head 50 and thus the coils 52/54positioned directly above and in close proximity to the guides.

Assembly of the card 10 may be performed by providing a base element 46which may have an indentation or cut-out portion 46′ into which apre-assembled electronic package comprising the electronics 48, coils,cores and connecting wires may be provided. This package may compriseadditional elements, such as a battery, a biometric reader, such as afinger print reader, one or more displays, one or moretransmitters/transceivers, such as wireless transmitters/transceivers,such as a Bluetooth transceiver, a Wi-Fi transceiver, an RF transceiveror the like, antennas, a keyboard, one or more switches, such as blisterswitches or piezo based switches (see e.g. WO2008/104567) or the like.

The cut-away portion 46′ and/or electronics may be covered by a layer44. The guides 26/36 may be provided either individually or as a part ofthe layer 44 or a next layer 42. On top of the guides 26/36, a finallayer 40 may be provided if desired.

It may be found advantageous to have the guides 36/26 form part of theouter, upper surface of the card in order for the card reader coils52/54 to contact or be very close to the guides 26/36. The upper layer40 may, on the other hand, be provided in order to protect the guides26/36 from wear, oxidation and other types of degradation. Preferably,the upper layer 40 is rather thin, such as below 100 μm, such as below50 μm and has a constant thickness along the direction of the guides26/36.

It is noted that no electrical connections are required between theguides 26/36 and the coils 52/54 so that the assembly of the card may bequite simple, such as a standard lamination.

Naturally, the magnetic properties of the individual parts of theencoder should support the above functionality.

Thus, the coil of the encoder may be a single coil or a plurality ofcoils positioned along the elongated encoder, preferably withlongitudinal axes along the encoder direction. The coil(s) may have thesame or a varying pitch over the length. A varying pitch may be used forcontrolling the strength of a field output at the windings, i.e. betweenthe ends.

A single coil of 1-10 mH is presently preferred.

It is noted, as mentioned above, that the coil may be bent so as toadapt the strength of transferred field along the length thereof to theguide.

The core may be one or more cores. Preferably, the core(s) is/are ableto carry a large field strength without the material saturating.Different materials have different B-H curves describing the fluxdensity as a function of magnetic field strength. A material with astraight B-H curve may be the VC6025Z (from www.VacuumSchmelze.de) whichhas a rather sharp “saturation corner”, whereas mu-metal has a muchsofter characteristic. In the latter situation, the field strength maybe kept sufficiently low for it to be in a linear area, or acompensation may be made either in the signal or in the detection.

Preferably, the permeability of the core material is 100-100,000 μr,such as 5,000-15,000 μr, such as around 10,000 μr. μr being thepermeability relative to that of vacuum, μ0.

The sharper corner of the VC6025Z material will cause a higherdistortion in case of saturation but may carry more field strengthbefore distorting the output field

The magnetic properties of the guide 26/36 preferably are slightlydifferent from those of the core, as it is desired that part of thefield lines actually exit the guide when the reading head approaches.Thus, the magnetic properties of the guide should be sufficiently goodfor the field lines to enter the guide at the ends of the encoder. Onthe other hand, the magnetic properties should be sufficiently low tohave some of the field lines exit the guide and enter the reading headwhen approaching.

Thus, the permeability preferably is much higher than air and the bulkmaterial of the card (such as plastics or polymers) and preferably lowerthan those of typical reading heads. Many reading heads have apermeability in the order of 300,000 μr.

Preferably, the guide has a permeability lower than that of the core (ifprovided at all), such as 100-10,000 μr, preferably 800-5,000 μr, suchas around 1600 μr.

In this context, also the cross sectional dimensions of the guide(s) isof relevance, as the field lines travelling at the bottom of arelatively thick (in the direction perpendicular to the card surface)guide may not experience the effect of the reading head, whereby only aportion of the field lines in the guide will take part in the transferof information.

The guide may have a wide variety of thicknesses. Generally, the lowerthe thickness, the higher is the permeability desired to still be ableto attract and carry a sufficient field.

With a permeability around 1600 μr, a thickness of about 18 μm issuitable.

Naturally, the distance from the guide to the reading head is also ofrelevance. Preferably, the reading head is as close to the guides aspossible. It may not be desired that the reading head touches themagnetically conducting material, such as during a translation, though.A distance of 0-500 μm, such as 5-50 μm, is desired, such as if providedthrough an upper layer of a material, so that the head may touch thecard during translation.

In order for the guide to collect the magnetic field, it is desired thatthere are no other or better alternatives for the field in the vicinityof the field generator. Thus, preferably, apart from the coil(s), thecore(s) and the guide, no other elements with a μr>100, such as a μr>10,are present in the card within 10 mm, such as within 5 mm, such aswithin 3 mm, such as within 2 mm, such as within 1 mm of a longitudinalor central axis of the coil(s) or the curve.

Also, it may be desired to alter a depth of the guide (distance from thesurface to the guide) along its length in order to adapt a fieldstrength transferred to a reading head travelling over the surface witha fixed distance to the surface. Thus, in one embodiment, the depth ofthe guide may be higher at a centre thereof than at the ends thereof.

The magnetic properties of the guide may be tailor-made if desired. Forexample, it may be preferred to provide a guide with different magneticproperties in different directions. For example, it may be desired tohave a higher μr in a direction toward the surface or reading head thanalong the longitudinal direction of the guide. In this manner, fieldlines travelling far from the surface will see a lower μr whentravelling up through the guide material and into the reading head, sothat thicker guide materials may be used.

The guide material may be a metal. The guide material may be amonolithic material, such as a foil or tape. Alternatively, the guidematerial may be a powder moulded or otherwise provided into a carriermaterial, such as plastics, polymers or the like. The guide material mayform part of a plastic sheet provided on the card. This may be obtainedusing co-extrusion, embedding, moulding or the like.

1. A card configured to output an magnetic field on or at a surfacethereof, the card comprising: an elongated magnetically conductingmaterial on or at the surface of the card, the magnetically conductingmaterial having a first and a second guide ends, and a field generatorpositioned so as to feed a magnetic field into the magneticallyconducting material, where the conducting material and the fieldgenerator, at a position along a longitudinal direction of theconducting material and in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinaldirection, have non-overlapping cross-sectional areas.
 2. A cardaccording to claim 1, the card having an outer, at least substantiallystraight side and wherein the curve is a straight line being at leastsubstantially parallel to the side and positioned between 6.9 mm and 7.2mm from the side.
 3. A card according to claim 1, the card having anouter, at least substantially straight side and wherein the curve is astraight line being at least substantially parallel to the side andpositioned between 10.2 mm and 10.5 mm from the side.
 4. A cardaccording to claim 1, wherein the magnetically conducting material has amagnetic conductivity of no more than 100,000 μr.
 5. A card according toclaim 1, wherein the magnetically conducting material has a thickness,in a direction perpendicular to the surface, of 5-200 μm.
 6. A cardaccording to claim 1, wherein the field generator comprises an elongatedcoil positioned at least substantially parallel to the magneticallyconductive material.
 7. A card according to claim 1, wherein, in a crosssection perpendicular to the curve, the field generator is positioned nomore than 5 mm from the magnetically conductive material.
 8. A cardaccording to claim 1, wherein the field generator is elongated and hastwo generator ends, the card further comprising magnetically conductingelements configured to guide magnetic field from each generator end to aguide end.
 9. An assembly of a card according to claim 1 and a cardreader comprising a reading head configured to be positioned at, ortravel a distance over, in relation to the card, the magneticallyconducting material of the card while sensing the magnetic field and tooutput a signal relating to the field sensed.
 10. An assembly accordingto claim 9, wherein the reading head comprises at least a first fieldsensor having a magnetic conductivity of at least 100,000 μr.
 11. Amethod of assembling a card according to claim 1, the method comprisingthe steps of: 1) providing a card blank, 2) fixing the field generatorin relation to the card blank, 3) subsequent to step 2), fixing themagnetically conducting material in relation to the card blank.
 12. Amethod according to claim 11, wherein step 3) comprises providing noelectrical connection between the magnetically conducting material andthe field generator.
 13. A method of outputting a signal from a cardaccording to claim 1, the method comprising the step of operating thefield generator to feed a magnetic field into the magneticallyconducting material, the magnetically conducting material outputting thesignal.
 14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the operating stepcomprises operating the field generator to feed a magnetic field intothe magnetically conducting material, which magnetic field varies overtime.
 15. A method of transferring information from a card, according toclaim 1, to a reading head, the method comprising: operating the fieldgenerator of the card to feed the magnetic field into the magneticallyconductive material, positioning a reading device in the proximity ofthe magnetically conducting material during the operating step, so that,during the operating step, at least a part of a magnetic fieldtransported in the magnetically conducting material exits themagnetically conducting material and enters the reading device, andwhere the reading device outputs a signal corresponding to the at leastpart of the magnetic field entering the reading device.
 16. A methodaccording to claim 15, wherein the positioning step comprisestranslating the reading device in relation to the card.